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NBA superstar Kevin Durant and his manager Rich Kleiman, who are also the co-founders of Thirty Five and the sports media network The Boardroom, just released the trailer of their new basketball documentary, NYC Point Gods. The hour-and-a-half movie is scheduled to premiere Friday, July 29 at 9 p.m. ET on Showtime.
“Everyone knows an NYC point guard when they see them, and the point gods of this film were instrumental in changing the game for everyone,” said Durant, who executive produced the project with Kleiman. “We are really excited to honor them through this doc, and I know basketball fans will really appreciate it.”
“Against the backdrop of New York City’s epidemic of drugs and crime in the 1980s and 1990s, a unique style of basketball emerged on the city’s courts defined by toughness, talent and swagger,” reads the movie’s summary. “Fashion and a fusion with hip-hop converged with basketball to change the game forever.”
Some legendary NYC ballers covered in the documentary include Stephon Marbury, God Shammgod, Kenny “The Jet” Smith, Mark Jackson, and more. And the likes of sports analysts Stephen A. Smith, Cam’ron, and Fat Joe share tales of what it felt like to experience that era of basketball firsthand.
“These players were the first people I ever idolized and looked up to, and that time in my life had a huge impact on me,” said Kleiman. “To get to tell these stories about this era and these cultural superheroes is an honor and something that I hope makes all New Yorkers and hoops fans proud to watch.”
“As a basketball fan who marveled at the skill and showmanship of each of these point gods, I couldn’t be prouder of this film for its faithful depiction of a special time and special place in basketball history,” Stephen Espinoza, President, Sports & Event Programming, Showtime Networks Inc., said.
But well before Durant joined the Brooklyn Nets, the Slim Reaper etched his own name in Big Apple streetball lore. During the NBA lockout of 2011, an even slimmer 22-year-old Durant [who was then a rising star on the Oklahoma City Thunder] hopped a plane to NYC’s famed Rucker Park, where he proceeded to put on a blistering 66-point performance.
